Raj, whose 91 not out proved too much for previous winners New Zealand in the semi-finals, managed only six and her dismissal came in the middle of a spell which saw five Indian wickets go down for 25 runs in nine overs.

Amita Sharma (22) and Jhulan Goswami (18) played some bold strokes to see their total to three figures but they could not take the shine off Australia's dominant display.

Their only wobble came when they were 31-2 after Belinda Clark had won the toss and chosen to bat first.

215 was always going to be difficult to chase if we bowled in the right areas

Clark looked in ominous form with four fours in her 19 before a thin edge off Sharma resulted in a catch for keeper Anju Jain.

Lisa Keightley was caught at second slip off Goswami for five, but Rolton and Mel Jones steadied the innings with a stand of 40.

Jones eventually missed an attempted sweep and was lbw to Neetu David for 17 but Sthalekar made a composed start to her innings, elegantly driving square and then through the covers for boundaries, and Rolton progressed to fifty with an easy single to mid-off.

She had a let-off on 62 when Sharma failed to hold a chance at mid-on after getting both hands to the ball and it was a fielding lapse which cost India dear.

The Southern Stars added 82 from the final 10 overs with Rolton launching a ball from Goswami over cover in the 49th over to bring up her hundred.

It was quickly followed by Sthalekar's half century and only then did she abandon her orthodox technique, a move which led to her undoing when she was dismissed by Dhar with three balls of the innings remaining.

India needed to keep the scoreboard ticking over and keep wickets intact if they were to have a chance, but achieved neither objective.

Sthalekar's elegant style complemented Rolton perfectly

A mix-up saw Jaya Sharma become the first of the run out victims in a razor sharp fielding effort by Australia and Anju Jain was caught at mid-wicket by Sthalekar off Clea Smith after making a useful 29.

It was a deserved reward for medium pacer Smith, who bowled her entire 10-over allocation in one spell for figures of 1-20.

India's innings went into freefall with Anjum Chopra (10) and Dhar (six) beaten by direct hits from Julie Hayes and Clark and Hemlata Kala run out by a combination of Sthalekar and Rolton.

It left them on 63-6 and although Sharma and Goswami stayed together for 13 overs, the downfall of the former, lbw to Sthalekar, proved to be the beginning of the end.

Pace bowler Fitzpatrick claimed her first success when Goswami carved a catch to backward point and she then hit David's off stump to leave India on the brink.

She took 2-23 but was denied the chance of the final word by Nitschke as Australia sealed their fifth World Cup win and emulated their male compatriots, who beat India in their final in 2003, also held in South Africa.